CARE delivers agricultural machinery to war-affected population

On 23 March an agricultural machinery handover ceremony was held at the Shida Kartli Governor’s Office in Gori as part of the "Stabilisation and Integration of IDPs into mainstream Georgian Society" (SIIMS) project. Agricultural machinery service groups formed by IDPs and local farmers from the villages of Skra, Akhalsopeli and Berbuki, received the machinery, which cost 135,000 USD.

“Exactly one year and eight months ago we were standing here providing humanitarian food aid to the war-affected population and it is significant that we are now talking about development support for IDPs and host communities. These people depend on income from agricultural activities and the machinery we are handing over today is crucial for their income generation,” declared Koba Subeliani, Minister of Refugees and Accommodation. The presentation was also attended by Shida Kartli Governor Lado Vardzelashvili, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the local authorities of the Shida Kartli region and senior managers of international and local NGOs.

“The SIIMS project aims to help IDPs displaced after the August ‘08 war and local impacted communities to integrate with their new environment using socio-economic opportunities to reduce poverty and conflict. These are aligned with local government services and structures,” says Vakhtang Piranishvili, SIIMS Project Director. The project is being jointly implemented by CARE Norway and CARE International in the Caucasus along with partner organisations the Civil Development Agency (CiDA) in Georgia, the Consent IDP Women’s Association and the Centre for Training and Consultancy (CTC). It is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has a total budget of 19 Million NOK (2.9 million USD).

The project began in July 2009 and will last for 3 years.